Banksy Charity Prints Go For £140k!
We all know how popular Banksy art prints and graffiti work are - and it’s always super
exciting to come across a piece in real life. You can even go on a UK tour hunting them
down, thanks to this handy little list!
But it’s also lovely when artists use their enviable skills for the greater good and, according
to NME, two limited-edition Banksy prints donated by Massive Attack (the frontman of which,
legend has it, actually is the real-life Banksy himself) have raised more than £140,000 for
charities Temwa and Aid Box COmmunity, which help vulnerable people in Bristol and
Malawi.
That’s a world-breaking record for the artists’ prints, with the auction held by artist and street
art specialists collective Vanguard on October 29th in Bristol. A print of I Fought The Law
went for an impressive £78,100, while Bomb Middle England was snapped up for £77,000.
Total sales of more than 70 items helped raise an incredible £181,510 for charity!
Vanguard’s Mary McCarthy said: “The fact that the record-breaking sale of these Banksy
prints happened in a club in Bristol and not at Christie’s in London or Sotheby’s in New York
demonstrates the incredible energy of Bristol’s street art scene. It is truly an amazing
achievement for Bristol to compete at this level.”
The Temwa charity, which supplies communities in Malawi with food, education and health
security, actually missed out on a grant of £250,00 earlier this year because of funding cuts -
so it’s amazing that this amount of cash has been raised!